Cosmogenesis
Cosmogenesis Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Note from the Editor
Although we have tried to be faithful to the scientific theories of what is known today with respect to the formation of stellar systems, we have taken small liberties for the fun of the game and to facilitate its playability. For example, it would be more correct, at the beginning of the game, that each star were accompanied by a protoplanetary disk, the asteroid belt would be the remains of this disk after the formation of the system. Furthermore, a comet could hardly give a gas giant a ring system, such systems are believed to be formed by the destruction of a satellite that came too close to its planet. Please excuse these and other possible inaccuracies that we may have committed.
Game Components
Celestial Bodies
Terrestrial Bodies
- 30 of sizes 1 and 2
- 15 of size 3
- 10 of size 4
Gas Giants
- 10 of size 1 (2x5 colours)
- 5 of size 2 (1x5 colours)
Exotic Objects
- 10 of varying combinations
Asteroids and Comets
- 35 Asteroids
- 25 Comets
Objectives
- 25 planetary
- 19 stellar
Boards
- 1 Central Board
- 4 Personal Boards
- 4 Expansion Modules
Tokens
- 30 grey circular counters
- 16 player tokens (in 4 colours)
- 1 white cylinder (Monolith)
Other
- 1 Rulebook
- 2 Reference Sheets (Objectives and Exotic Objects)
- 4 Player Aids
- 1 Score Pad
- 1 Cloth Bag
© 2017 Ludonova. All Rights Reserved. Ludonova SL · San Pablo 22 · Córdoba · www.ludonova.com
Setup
Before your first game, carefully remove all game components.
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Place the central board on the table within easy reach of all players.
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Each player takes a personal board and the 4 player tokens in the colour of their choice.
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Place a circular counter in the space 1 on the rounds' track. From now on we will refer to this as the rounds' counter. The remaining circular counters and expansion modules are placed to one side of the board within reach of all players.
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Distribute the celestial bodies by following these steps:
a) Remove from the game the tokens that you will not be using.
- For 3 players, remove the 10 tokens marked with a 4.
- For 2 players, remove the 10 tokens marked with a 3+ and the other 10 marked with a 4.
b) Form a reserve as follows: 10 terrestrial bodies of size 1, 10 terrestrial bodies of size 3, 10 terrestrial bodies of size 4, all 35 asteroids and all 25 comets.
The reserve is limited to the tokens available at any one time, except in the case of asteroids that can be substituted by circular counters in the rare event that there aren't any available.
c) Insert all remaining celestial bodies into the cloth bag and mix them.
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Shuffle the Stellar Objectives and form a face-down deck based on the number of players:
- 2 players > 9 objectives
- 3 players > 12 objectives
- 4 players > 15 objectives
Remove the remaining objectives from the game without looking at them.
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Shuffle the Planetary Objectives and form a face down deck based on the number of players:
- 2 players > 11 objectives
- 3 players > 15 objectives
- 4 players > 19 objectives
Remove the remaining objectives from the game without looking at them.
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Fill in the 4 sectors of the central board (I-II-III-IV), leaving the spaces free that do not correspond to the number of players who are playing:
- In games of 3 players leave the spaces marked with a 4 free.
- In games of 2 players leave the spaces marked with a 3+ and a 4 free.
Sector I: Draw the Stellar Objectives one at a time from the deck to fill the corresponding spaces.
Sector II and III: Draw the celestial bodies from the cloth bag one at a time to fill the corresponding spaces. Since all the tokens are double-sided, they are placed randomly by whichever side is pulled out. Only if a token shows a terrestrial body with water and atmosphere or a gas giant with rings should you turn it around immediately to hide them.
Sector IV: Take from the reserve the Asteroids and Comets indicated in the sector itself to fill the corresponding spaces.
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Determine at random the starter player, who takes the Monolith and places it in front of them. Next, each player takes a number of asteroids equal to their turn order position — determined clockwise from the starter player — and places them in the asteroid belt of their respective personal boards (1st player: 1 asteroid, 2nd player: 2 asteroids, etc.).
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Each player draws 2 Planetary Objectives, looks at them in secret, he keeps one face down and returns the other, also face down, to the bottom of the planetary objective deck.
Note: The objective that is returned to the bottom of the deck will come into play in the last round, so it is worth memorising the information that it contains.
Overview
In Cosmogenesis, each player will create their own planet system, starting from the star and asteroid belt on their personal board. In order to do this, you will use the elements available on the different sections of the central board. In each of the 6 rounds, you will get one element from each of the 4 sections over 4 turns and with these elements you will form planets and moons. These will collide with each other causing them to increase in size, develop rings, form atmospheres and of course create life. Players will do all of this in order to fulfill their own objectives, which like the rest of the elements in the game, will be obtained from the central board, and at the end of the game, will provide the victory points that will determine the overall winner.
Playing
Beginning with the starting player, each player performs his full turn before moving to the next player clockwise. A player's turn consists of the following steps, which must be performed in this order:
- Choose an element from the central board and perform an action with it (obligatory).
- Perform an additional action and / or use its exotic objects (optional).
1. Choose an Element of the Central Board and Perform an Action with It (Obligatory)
Choose one of the 4 sectors of the central board in which there is not already one of your player tokens (in each round you get an element from each sector). Place one of your player tokens in the area reserved for it and pick one of the elements of that sector (celestial body or objective). From there, perform an action with that element. The actions that you can carry out always depend on the type of element you choose, as described below.
A. Create a planet (coalescence)
To create a planet with its own orbit in your planetary system, place a terrestrial body or a gas giant in the first free notch on the left side of your personal board, always starting from your star then going upwards, without leaving any spaces.
B. Create a moon (capture)
To create a moon, place a terrestrial body (never a gas giant) in the orbit of a planet which is larger than the body you are using to form the moon. All gas giants are always considered larger than any terrestrial body or asteroid, so they can accommodate moons of any size.
Important: Each planet can only hold in its orbit a maximum of 3 moons. If as a result of collision (see Colliding) a fourth moon is created, this is returned to the reserve.
C. Colliding
The content of this action varies according to the chosen celestial body.
If you have chosen a Terrestrial Body
You can only collide a terrestrial body against another terrestrial body or against an asteroid in an orbit. The purpose is to modify the size of the body that is hit in the collision and / or create new moons.
This action causes the collided body to increase in size by 1 and the body used to collide reduces its size by 1. If the body used to collide does not disappear (as it was originally of a size greater than 1), it becomes, after its reduction in size, a moon in the orbit where the collision has occurred.
When using a terrestrial body to collide, you must take into account the following:
- You can only collide it against terrestrial moons or planets smaller than size 4 (which is the maximum size).
- Moons resulting from a collision can never be equal to or exceed the size of the planet which they orbit.
- If you collide it against a terrestrial body with evolved life, extinction occurs and life returns to its basic level (see Create Life).
In order to show the size changes resulting from collisions, you will need to flip some tokens and or use others from the reserve. The bodies used to collide that disappear are returned to the reserve. Remember that the reserve is limited to the tokens that are available at any one time (except asteroids).
If you have chosen a comet
You can only collide a comet against a gas giant without rings or against a terrestrial body of size 3 or 4 that does not have water and atmosphere. If you collide the comet against:
- A gas giant without rings — the consequence will be that it will now have a ring system.
- A terrestrial body without water and atmosphere — the consequence will be that it will now have water and atmosphere.
In both cases you must flip the token of the hit object to show the result of the collision. The comet used is returned to the reserve.
D. Add asteroids and / or comets to your asteroid belt
The asteroid belt can only contain asteroids and comets, so this action can only be carried out with the comets (which you have decided not to collide directly, see above) and with the asteroids obtained in Sector IV of the central board. Place these elements in the asteroid belt of your personal board without further effect. Later they can be used to carry out additional actions (see "Perform an Additional Action").
When you take the asteroid located in space 2+ of Sector IV, also immediately take the monolith (or keep it if you already have it) to indicate that you will be the starting player of the next round.
When you choose the double space of Sector IV, take both asteroids (only used in games of 3 or 4 players).
E. Add exotic objects to your system
In sectors II and III exotic objects will appear. When you choose one, place it onto your personal board without further effect and put as many circular counters on it as shown by the icons on the token itself (be sure to leave the icons visible so that you and the other players see the effects of the token). The number of counters indicates how many times you can use an exotic object (see "Use an Exotic Object").
There is no limit to the number of exotic objects you can accumulate. They belong to your system but do not form part of any particular orbit.
F. Add objectives to your personal board or to your hand
The objectives are only obtained in sector I and have 2 types: stellar in odd numbered rounds and planetary in even numbered rounds.
Stellar Objectives
Place the Stellar Objective face up in the notch on the right-hand side of your personal board without further effect. Normally you will accumulate 3 objectives during the game, which at the end will give you a series of points. Check the Objective Reference Sheet for details.
Planetary Objectives
Place the planetary objective face down near your personal board without further effect (this is your planetary objectives hand). Later, by means of an additional action you will be able to reveal and assign one of your planetary objectives to a specific orbit in your system that meets or exceeds the minimum requirements needed for the objective itself (see "Reveal a Planetary Objective"). By revealing them, these objectives will give you immediate rewards and points at the end of the game. Check the Objective Reference Sheet for details.
G. Discard the chosen item
You can always choose not to do any of the above actions and instead discard the chosen element to obtain an asteroid, which you place in the asteroid belt of your personal board without further effect. The objectives and elements from sectors II and III discarded in this way are removed from the game, while asteroids and comets are returned to the reserve.
2. Perform an Additional Action and / or Use Your Exotic Objects (Optional)
You can combine your additional action and the use of your exotic objects in the order you wish. Both options are described below.
Perform an Additional Action
The additional action is represented by the additional-action icon and consists of different possibilities, usually associated with the asteroid belt. You can choose one of the 7 available options:
A. Create a moon (capture)
Take an asteroid from your asteroid belt and place it in one of your orbits on your personal board as a size 1 moon. You must follow the rules for creating a moon (see "Create a moon (capture)").
B. Colliding an asteroid
Take an asteroid from your asteroid belt and collide it against a terrestrial body or against another asteroid in an orbit. You must respect the rules of collision described for terrestrial bodies (see "Colliding").
C. Create a Comet
Take 2 asteroids from your asteroid belt and return them to the reserve in exchange for a comet, which you can place in your asteroid belt or collide it directly against a gas giant, giving it rings, or against a size 3 or 4 terrestrial body, giving it water and an atmosphere. You must respect the rules of collision described for comets (see "Colliding").
D. Create Life
Take an asteroid from your asteroid belt and return it to the reserve in exchange for a circular counter. Place that counter on the bacterium symbol of a terrestrial planet or moon on your personal board, thus indicating that life has arisen in that place. From now on we will refer to this as a life counter.
Evolution: Once created, life can only evolve on terrestrial planets and moons with water and atmosphere that are in the habitable zone of your system.
At the end of each round, the life counter will advance one step on all planets and moons that meet these conditions (see "End of Round"). The evolutionary level reached on each terrestrial planet and moon will give you a series of points at the end of the game (see "End of Game"). Remember that if a collision occurs, evolved life returns to the basic level (bacterium).
Note: There may be terrestrial planets and moons with water and atmosphere outside the habitable zone, but if these happen to have life, it will not evolve.
Habitable Zone: This is the zone highlighted in blue on your personal board that consists of the first, second and third orbits of your system (counting from the star). This also shows the evolutionary scale on the right margin as a reminder.
E. Expand your system
Take an asteroid from your asteroid belt and return it to the reserve in exchange for an expansion module. Place this module on top of your personal board. Each player can only expand his system once per game.
F. Reveal a Planetary Objective
Reveal one of your planetary objectives and place it next to a planet on your personal board. In order to perform this action, the orbit you choose must meet or exceed the minimum requirements required by the objective itself. Each planetary objective you manage to reveal will give you immediate rewards and points at the end of the game. Check the Objective Reference Sheet for details.
Note: An orbit already assigned to a planetary objective can be modified further (eg. by creating new moons, by collisions, etc.).
G. Colliding a Comet
Take a comet from your asteroid belt and collide it against a gas giant to give it rings or against a size 3 or 4 terrestrial body to give it water and atmosphere. You must respect the rules of collision described for comets (see "Colliding").
Use an Exotic Object
After your mandatory action, and before or after performing your additional action, you can use each of your exotic objects once (you can decide on the order and how to combine them).
Each time you use an exotic object you must return one of its circular counters to the reserve. Once empty, an exotic object can not be used again during the game. Each exotic object in your possession (empty or not) will give you 1 point at the end of the game. Check the Exotic Objects Reference Sheet for details.
End of Round
A round ends when all players have completed their 4 turns. After this, the following steps must be carried out in the order detailed below:
A. Move the rounds' counter to the next evolution space.
B. All players advance their life counter one space on their planets and moons which have water and atmosphere that are located in the habitable zone of their system. If this counter has already reached the state of intelligent life, it stays where it is. In the sixth round, this is the last step to take.
The marked space on the rounds' track is a reminder that all life created from this point will no longer reach the state of intelligent life only with the passage of the rounds.
C. Move the rounds' counter to the next round number.
D. Clear the central board: all players take back their 4 player tokens, the remaining objective is removed from the game and the remaining celestial bodies are returned to the cloth bag.
E. Refill the central board, following the steps described in item 7 of the setup. Remember that you must change the objective type from round to round: stellar objectives correspond to odd rounds and planetary objectives to even rounds (this is indicated on the rounds' track itself as a reminder).
The player in possession of the Monolith starts a new round, as long as the sixth and last one has not been completed.
End of Game
The game ends when the sixth round has finished. Use the score pad to determine the final score of each player.
A player earns points for the following concepts:
- Completed Planetary Objectives (see Objectives Reference Sheet).
- Stellar Objectives (see Objectives Reference Sheet).
- Evolutionary level reached on each planet and moon with water and atmosphere in your system.
| Evolution level | Points |
|---|---|
| Bacterium | 0 |
| Jellyfish | 1 |
| Fish | 2 |
| Lizard | 3 |
| Intelligent life | 5 |
- 1 point for each Exotic Object in your possession.
- 5 points if you have the most valuable asteroid belt or 3 points if you have the second most valuable. To determine the value of an asteroid belt, the following scale applies: an asteroid is worth 1 and a comet is worth 2. In case of a tie, tied players get all points corresponding to their position (first or second).
- 1 point if you have the Monolith at the end of the game.
The player who has totalled the most points will be declared the winner. In case of a tie, the player who owns the Monolith will win if he is one of the tied players. If none of the tied players has the Monolith, the player with the largest number of planets wins. If the tie persists, the tied players share the victory.
Epilogue
Cosmogenesis opens the door to the world of astrobiology and planetary formation. Two of the great branches of astronomy, with which in the coming decades we hope to answer that one great question that many of us often ask ourselves: Are we alone in the universe? To know where to look, we need to understand concepts which in the game of Cosmogenesis will lead you to victory.
For example, as the game shows, only the planets and moons in the habitable zone may be candidates for evolved life. Without comets that carry water and other elements to the terrestrial planets, it is quite possible that they will never have the capacity to harbour life. The presence of a satellite can be key to maintaining stable conditions, as with the Moon and Earth.
Every year, in the Milky Way, a star is born. Now you have one in your hands. It is your responsibility (and your goal) to make it a place as special as the Solar System, the only place we know, for now, where there is life ... Have fun!
— Álex Riveiro, www.astrobitacora.com
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Al Leduc, Martin Ethier, Gerry Paquette, and my sons, Thiernault and Eden. He would also like to thank the Game Artisans of Canada.
Ludonova wants to especially thank Antonio Varela, Carlos Romero, David Ferrero, Jose Merlo, Paco Cantarero and Paco Salas (Franky) for their collaboration with play testing.
We would also like to thank Alex Riveiro for his collaboration and for his scientific expertise.
Credits
- Game idea: Yves Tourigny
- Illustrations: Tim Barton
- Graphic design and layout: David Prieto
- Development: Juan Luque y Rafael Sáiz
- Rules: Juan Luque y Rafael Sáiz
- Translation: Jayne Broomhead